One type of magnetic recording is heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). In HAMR, a recording media is heated as part of the writing process. A conventional HAMR write apparatus, such as in a HAMR disk drive, typically includes a waveguide, a near-field transducer (NFT), a write pole and one or more coils. Light from a laser is incident on and coupled into the waveguide. Light is guided by the waveguide to the NFT near the air-bearing surface (ABS), which is adjacent to a magnetic recording media. The NFT focuses the light to magnetic recording media, such as a disk. This region is thus heated. The pole is energized by the coils. The magnetic field from the pole is used to write to the heated portion of the recording media.
Although the conventional HAMR write apparatus functions, there are drawbacks. The field from the conventional pole intended to write the media may not be in the direction desired. For example, the fraction of the field perpendicular to the ABS may be lower than is preferred. As a result, the performance of the conventional HAMR write apparatus may be adversely affected.